Friday, November 19, 2004

Las Vegas Holiday Classic Update

I'll be back on Monday with plenty of poker content. Stay tuned. Don't forget the next leg of the World Poker Bloggers Tour stops at Paradise Poker for the Grublog Poker Classic II this Sunday. Visit Grubby for more details. Unfortunately, I will be unable to participate in Sunday's event. I am still working on the second draft of Gumbo and there's no poker in my future until I complete that task. And yeah, I'm jonesin' to hit the tables at Party Poker. I'll also be missing Coach's home game and two birthday parties in NYC. I had a tough decision to make, but I'm sticking to my writing schedule. After this weekend, I'll have the next few months free to circle the shark infested waters at Party Poker and see my friends to party it up in the big city.

21 Days Til Vegas!

OK, thanks to both the Poker Prof and Dick for carrying the ball for me in my hiatus. I will be back in the swing of things by Monday and I'll be able to step back in the loop and hammer out the final details for the blogger tournament. In the last week or so Dick from Sam's Town and the Poker Prof have been organizing what's going to be a kick ass event.

1. Seats? There are a few seats still available. Email me if you are a poker blogger (or a member of the Swedish Bikini Team) and you'd like to play.

2. Rooms? If you are looking for a room, please contact Dick at Sam's Town. The direct line to poker room is (702) 454-8092 or 1-800 897-8696 (DO NOT ASK FOR RESERVATIONS), instead ask for Dick Gatewood. He's off on Sundays and some Mondays. Please book today before the rooms fill up due to the Rodeo Finals. He's hooking up bloggers with a $69 room rate. That's a nice discount.

3. Bounties and bonuses? If you have any ideas please let me know. Joaquin suggested he'd offer up a cowboy hat for the winner. That was a great idea. I already picked up a "Loser's Lounge" prize for the first person knocked out. And of course I'll be running a Hilton Sisters Challenge. J Santos will be offering up some of his poker related artwork for a prize. In addition, Dick is hard at work trying to secure us a little more money towards the prize pool.

4. T-shirts? If you are playing and you haven't contacted Maudie, please do so. She's hard at work getting shirts made and she needs your t-shirt size.

If you don't know, the Poker Prof was able to get pro Charlie Shoten (WPT Borgata runner up) to participate in the event, and they are working on getting a few other professionals to hang out and talk to us about poker and stuff before the tournament. I heard that Tom McEvoy (1983 WSoP winner and four total WSoP bracelets) is a maybe. That's pretty cool. I never envisioned that this random idea I had would grow into a legitimate event in Vegas! Dick arranged Sam's Town to possibly offer us a complimentary continental breakfast starting at 10:00am on Saturday morning. That would give the bloggers a chance to meet everyone else and talk with some of the professional players and of course do early bird shots with Al Cant Hang. What a great idea!

So far we have at least 24-25 players (some of your favorite poker bloggers) with a few maybes. In exactly three weeks, I'll be in Las Vegas and it couldn't come sooner. More to come.